Does this make any difference to what everyone has said about paint being appropriate, and not gelcoat?

No. Again, gelcoat is something added to a mold before making a fiberglass kayak. It is applied to the inside of the mold, allowed to "gel" before applying fiberglass. The gelcoat resin's cure is inhibited by air, this helps promote a good bond between the coating and the wetted fiberglass. The gelcoat finishes curing after the fiberglass is applied. This first coat becomes the outside surface of the boat when it is removed from the mold.

It is quite possible your boat was originally made with a gel coat. My understanding is Betsie Bay kayaks are made in a mold. So it originally may have had a gelcoat exterior finish. But it will need paint for refinishing because gelcoat does not work without the mold.

Even if your boat has gelcoat on it now, you need someone to paint it. The prep work prior to painting fiberglass and painting wood are slightly different, so if the hull has glass on it and the deck does not they will need to be treated slightly differently.

If the whole thing has fiberglass over all you can probably find a local autobody shop as Dan suggested. They are quite used to prepping and painting fiberglass surfaces. If the deck does not have fiberglass, which is quite possible, you may want someone more experienced with wood, an autobody shop may butcher it a bit.